Monday, January 30, 2012

Minecraft

Before I get into this, I decided that my recurring theme will be a review type theme. One game for each blog.

Minecraft.I love this game. Absolutely incredible for such a simple-looking game. It's very pixelated, but that's what the game is like, and I like it.

I started playing in Alpha. I've played several years; the first two and a half on my own, that last half with friends on my server.

My server started as a little 2-3 person server for me, my brother and our friend. And then we joined an unschooling group on Facebook and found out that some of the people we added to our friends list played too. Soon enough there was 5+ people on my server. But the real jump happened when my awesome mom posted about my server on her Facebook page and she got at least 15 people wanting to join. It was so much fun turning my server from just another random forest spawn point into what it is now with all my new friends.

To the actual aspects of the game. It's amazing fun, and even though there is no storyline, there's a boss now. Because every great game has a boss. Blocks are 16X16 pixels. Yes, pixels. They're not little squares made up of hundreds of pixels, they are pixels themselves.Anyone could easily count them in a matter of seconds. There are different areas, Swamps, Pine forests, Birch forests, Deserts, and it snows! The goal is obviously to kill the boss, but this is virtually impossible without defying the laws of gravity, by punching a tree stump, and watching the rest of the thing float in mid-air. Yeah, Minecraft doesn't like physics... However, sand and gravel fall. And sometimes Minecraft can be just pure astonishing. There can be massive overhangs and mountains, huge caverns loaded with ores, ravines and more of the sort. It's gone so far since Alpha. Now there's Enchantment tables, a boss (Of course.), strongholds, abandoned mine-shafts, and much more.

What can you learn? Do you want to get into Architecture? People build huge buildings all the time in Minecraft! Scaffolding and everything to place a block where it's needed. You can design totally unique buildings or structures with nearly any materials you want. I would list what you can build, but possibilities are endless. You can build absolutely anything that comes to mind. If you can think it, you can build it. It's video gaming Architecture. You come up with a good, stable idea for a nice looking building, and try your best to make it happen. It's so much fun to be able to just build freely in this game. And you can make any project look beautiful with a little decorating.